CENTRAL PARK, Manhattan — It was a six hour concert, on six continents simultaneously, whose goal is to change the planet for the better.
Billy Porter and Jon Batiste opened the 2021 Global Citizen Live with Bob Marley’s reggae theme song of activism, “Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.”
Thousands gathered on the Great Lawn in Central Park on Saturday, with thousands more listening and watching live around the world.
The goal is to defend the planet and defeat poverty, but 68-year-old Queens native Cindy Lauper also reminded the crowd to have fun.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had a serious tone talking about the need for everyone to get vaccinated, but it wasn’t until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took the stage for their “vaccinate the world” message that the crowd went wild.
“Are we prepared to do what’s necessary to end the pandemic?” Prince Harry asked the crowd. “This is a human rights crisis,” he added.
“Access to a vaccine is a basic human right,” his bride Meghan Markle added.:
Cherry Davis, a royals fan from Los Angeles, was so excited to see Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. “I flew all the way from LA to see them,” she said.
While some came just tp see the royal couple, others came to change the world – or watch their daughter up on stage trying to do the same.
“My daughter and three of her friends started an organization to help people in the slums of Kibera,” Pearl Caruso, mother of 17-year-old Laurel Caruso, told PIX11 News. “The website is MuanzoMpya.com,” she added.
Coldplay, Billy Eilish, Camila Cabello, Jennifer Lopez, Lizzo and more performed as darkness descended on Global Citizen Live 2021.
